Lesson video

Hello.

My name is Mr. Robertson.

I love Ari and I'm really excited to be teaching you today.

We are in the middle of our amazing unit, "Christianity: How Have The Experiences of the Global South Shaped It?" Today's lesson focuses on the incredible person, Mercy Amba Oduyoye, and all about African Women's Theology.

Can't wait to get started.

Let's go.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain how Mercy Oduyoye's worldview influenced her development of African Women's Theology.

In this lesson, we have four key words.

The first keyword is African Women's Theology.

And this focuses on empowering women by integrating their experiences into theological discussions.

Our next word is Akan, which is an indigenous belief system and culture primarily in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

Our third key word is colonialism, which is taking control of a country and exploiting the resources and people.

Our final word is patriarchy, which is a system of society where men make most power and make key decisions.

So in this lesson, we'll be learning all about Mercy Amba Oduyoye and African Women's theology.

And in this first section of the lesson we're going to be looking at Mercy Amba Oduyoye's worldview.

As we begin, we're going to think a little bit about this idea of theology.

Aisha explains what we mean by theology in religious education.

She says, "Theologians are interested in stories, texts, and traditions.

We could better understand people's worldviews by examining how these stories, texts, and traditions have been interpreted in the past and how they are interpreted today." In this lesson, we're going to focus on Mercy Amba Oduyoye to explore how her life has shaped her theology of Christianity.

So, we're focusing today on the country of Ghana.

Ghana is on the continent of Africa.

You can see there it's on the west of Africa.

Its capital is Accra.

Ghana was colonised by the British in 1874.

It gained its independence in 1957.

In fact, it was the first African country to gain its independence from the British Empire and it paved the way for other African nations to follow.

When it was colonised, Christianity was enforced in many African nations, often suppressing indigenous religions and cultures.

In other words, the beliefs and worldviews that were held by people who lived there before the coming of colonisation.

When early European missionaries saw African spirituality, they generally categorised it as idol worship and their attitude towards it was generally pretty negative.

They saw it as wrong and misguided and themselves as bringing the truth.

Here we've got a photograph of Mercy Amba Oduyoye.

She was born in 1933 during British colonial rule in Ghana.

She grew up under both indigenous and Western influences.

We're gonna talk a bit about that in more detail as we get into this lesson.

And she observed how colonialism reinforced patriarchy within Christianity.

And these experiences of living and growing up in a colonised society and investigating what it did to theology and how it shaped it, that shaped her own theology and it led her to challenge both the patriarchal and the colonial legacies.

And we're going to find out a little bit more about what she did and how she did that.

Now, the theologian doctor Oluwatomisin Oredein, he wrote a biography of Oduyoye's Life, and he observed that, "In order to understand someone's theology, we must first sit at the feet of a life." That's a really interesting quote, isn't it? I wonder what you think he means by this.

What does he mean by this idea? "To understand someone's theology, you must first sit at the feet of a life." Well, in lots of ways, theology the way that people, human beings think about God is shaped by their personal experiences, and a theologian's life influences how they see and interpret God.

So, we are going to look at the biography of Mercy Oduyoye because that's gonna help us understand her theology and why she came up with the ideas that she did.

So, let's hear the story of her life.

Mercy Amba Oduyoye was born in 1933 in Ghana.

She was the eldest of nine children.

She was raised in a Christian home which was influenced by both Methodist and Presbyterian traditions.

And she was deeply shaped by her father who was a Methodist pastor.

He taught her two key lessons.

First, to engage deeply with her Christian faith.

And secondly, to realise the power of education in shaping a future.

As part of her father's ministry, her family moved frequently and this exposed her to different Ghanaian communities throughout the country.

This experience allowed her to see the diversity that existed within her own culture and understand that faith and traditions varied and had similarities and differences across the regions.

Lucas and Laura are discussing the influence of Oduyoye's father on her worldview.

Lucas says, "Oduyoye's dad helped her appreciate how different Ghanaian communities lived.

Moving around a lot showed her that there are many ways people practise faith and culture even within the same country." And Laura says, "Her dad taught Oduyoye to take her Christian faith seriously like he did as a pastor.

He also helped her to see how education could shape her future, giving her the tools to succeed." So, we can see some really important ideas that are going to come out in Oduyoye's theology.

The importance of diversity.

That there's lots of different ways of experiencing and practising your faith.

And the importance of being serious and thinking about your faith and being educated.

Now, Oduyoye's family belonged to the Akan ethnic group.

And this was a society within Ghana that deeply valued ancestors, community and spirituality.

Akan culture was complex.

On the surface, its gender roles seemed to reflect Western ideas.

Men were expected to be leaders and providers while women to marry and bear children.

However, Akan culture was distinct in one critical way.

It was a matrilineal society.

In other words, unlike in the West where your father's surname is important and often taken by women and that's how your family tree is traced, this was done through the women's name and the mother's line.

Matrilineal culture honoured women that is essential figures within the family.

However, decision-making still remain firmly within the hands of men.

Oduyoye grew up questioning her worth as an Akan woman and struggling with the contradiction of being central to her family, yet excluded from leadership roles.

Later, her marriage into a patriarchal Nigerian society further exposed her to the ways in which women were marginalised.

This diagram's going to try and unpack some of these ideas.

So, the Akan are a major ethnic group in Ghana with over 4 million people.

They believe in a distant supreme God, Nyame, so people seek guidance and communicate with lesser deities and ancestors.

Honouring ancestors is an important practise, as they are believed to guide and protect the living.

Many Akan are Christian, but their faith blends with their traditional beliefs.

So, we can see that Oduyoye's worldview was a really interesting one.

On one side there was the Christian worldview of her father being a Methodist pastor, and on the other the ideas of honouring ancestors and the matrilineal ideas of her Akan society as well.

Let's just check what we are understanding so far.

Got a true or false question for you here.

True or false? Akan people rejected Christianity seeing it as a tool of colonisation.

Is that true or false? Excellent.

It's false, isn't it? But why is it false? While some Akan people viewed Christianity as a tool of colonisation, many others embraced it, adapting it to their cultural beliefs.

Christianity became deeply rooted in Ghanaian society.

We have a diagram here to help explain the matrilineal idea of the Akan culture.

As we've said before, in a matrilineal society, the family lineage is traced through the mother.

Women have primary authority and leadership in a matriarchal society.

And in a patriarchal society, men hold most power and make key decisions.

In Oduyoye's society, despite the fact that the family lineage was traced through the mother, men still held power.

Let's just check our understanding here.

Jun says, "Akan culture can be described as a, patriarchal, b, matriarchal, or c, matrilineal.

Which is the correct term to describe Akan culture? Pause the video and have a think.

Excellent.

It's matrilineal.

Well done if you got that right.

Now, Oduyoye's father was a Methodist pastor and he firmly believed in the equality of men and women.

Yet her mother frequently spoke of feeling diminished as though her identity was lost in her husband's life.

This contradiction struck young Mercy deeply.

She saw how within Akan Christianity, women worked tirelessly in churches and communities, but were rarely given authority.

Western missionaries reinforced male leadership, making it harder for women to gain recognition.

Instead of improving the Akan culture, Oduyoye observed how Christianity often made the situation worse, strengthening the challenges women faced in both.

Now, Oduyoye's mother feared that the introduction of Western Christianity had legitimised the idea that African women should be invisible.

I wonder how might the concerns of Oduyoye's mother have influenced her worldview? You might be thinking about the idea that the Christianity had been come from the West and instead of challenging the Akan culture, it had actually carried on legitimising the aspects of the Akan culture which kept men in power.

So, to continue the story, Oduyoye understood early on that education was a powerful tool for change.

She attended an elite Methodist Girl's Boarding School.

But rather than being detached from her roots, she was encouraged to immerse herself in Ghanaian culture.

She learned local languages and embraced the traditions of her people.

One experience stood out to her.

While she and her friends were taught to memorise Bible verses, they found themselves more comfortable reciting Akan proverbs.

Over time she noticed that these proverbs carried much of the same wisdom as Christian teachings.

This reaction helped her to become secure in both her Christian faith and her Akan heritage.

It would later inspire her work in reinterpreting Christianity through an African lens.

Sam discusses how Oduyoye's experiences at school influenced her worldview.

Sam says, "Oduyoye's school experience showed her how education could bridge and connect cultures.

Learning Bible verses alongside Akan proverbs, she noticed their shared wisdom.

This helped her see connections between Christianity and her Akan heritage, shaping her theological outlook." So, instead of seeing a contradiction between the two cultures, as some people would've seen at the time where she might have felt she had to reject her Akan culture and just to accept the Christian culture, she could see that they bridged each other, that there was wisdom in both, and this was gonna help her connect them together when she was starting to do her own theology.

Oduyoye's academic success was groundbreaking.

At a time when African women were expected to pursue careers like nursing or teaching, she studied theology.

She had degrees from the University of Ghana, London, and Cambridge, becoming the first African woman to earn a theology degree.

How amazing.

She was later awarded 10 honorary doctorates from universities for her work.

So, you could see Oduyoye was a really inspirational and highly educated woman.

Let's just check our understanding here.

Why was Mercy Oduyoye's academic success considered groundbreaking? A, she was the first African woman to study medicine.

B, she perceived theology when African women were expected to take up careers like nursing or teaching.

She was the only African woman to receive an honorary doctorate.

She studied theology but never earned any formal degrees.

What do you think is correct? Pause the video.

Have a think.

Excellent.

It's B, isn't it? She pursued theology at a time when African women were expected to take up careers like nursing or teaching.

One particular moment cemented Oduyoye's resolve.

While teaching at university, she attended a meeting filled with male theologians, her academic peers.

Yet rather than being treated as an equal, she was asked to serve tea.

She refused, but the moment lingered.

If she an educated and respected scholar was treated in this way, how many other women faced similar struggles? She realised that both culture and religion were complicit in keeping women in lower positions.

Something had to change.

And you can see we've got a cup of tea there to remember that particular episode in her life.

Despite all of her academic achievements, what impact might this experience have had on her? There she was, the first woman in Africa to get a theology degree, and yet when she was in a room with other men, they looked to her to make the tea for her.

We're going to do a task now to reflect on what we've learned about Mercy Oduyoye's life and how it might have shaped her worldview.

So, we have five different factors here.

We've got her father, if you remember was a Methodist preacher.

Her mother, the Akan culture.

Christianity and education.

For each of these, might you be able to think about something that person said or a thought or something important from it which would've helped shape Mercy Oduyoye's worldview.

So, with her father or mother, what was it about the values they might have had or the situations they were in? How might that have influenced her? What was it within Akan culture or Christianity which either positively or negatively might have shaped how Mercy was going to see the world.

And finally, what were her beliefs about education? I am looking forward, theologians, to seeing your answers here.

Pause the video and off you go.

Oh, some really deep thinking here.

I've got some examples here, but you might well have your own ideas.

So in terms of her father, her father encouraged her to take her Christian faith seriously, value education, and appreciate diverse cultures.

Because if you remember, they moved quite a lot with his job.

And so, she experienced the different cultures within her native Ghana.

Her mother, if you remember, despite the fact that her father believed in equality, felt quite invisible in her role and that made Oduyoye question the treatment of women in Akan culture.

Akan culture shaped her understanding of women's roles in society.

If you remember, it's a matrilineal society.

However, women still had very little power.

Christianity shaped her faith as a Christian.

However, she looked at the way in which it reinforced patriarchal structures in Africa, and that meant she wanted to reinterpret it.

And her education, when she was looking at the proverbs and reading the Bible allowed her to see that she could integrate her Christian faith and her Akan heritage.

But as an academic, she was still subject to inequality when she was asked to make the tea for example.

Well done if you've managed to gather some of that information from her biography and think about how it would shape her worldview.

Excellent thinking.

Now, we've learned a little bit about Mercy Oduyoye's worldview and her life.

We're going to look at the development of African Women's Theology.

So, Oduyoye drew inspiration from biblical figures like Queen Esther, who despite her title, held little real power under her husband's rule.

Seeing parallels with her own experience, respected in leadership, yet ultimately under male authority, she became determined to carve out a space for African women in theology.

In 1989, she founded the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians.

Deeply rooted in Christian thought, The Circle is a Pan-African multi-religious organisation with scholars from Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, and African traditional religions.

It engages with women's issues across these contexts, advocating for gender justice and amplifying African women's voices.

So, this diagram will help us understand that a bit more.

It focuses on conversation.

Women studying, thinking, publishing together.

It empowers women to discuss religion and culture from their own perspectives.

And as we've heard, it comes a variety of different perspectives and cultures.

It works to heal women from the abuse of culture and religion used against them.

And it counters male and outside narratives about African women's experiences.

You can see the symbol of the African Women's Circle there.

Her vision for The Circle was "A growing community open to all who joined hands.

It stood for unity, looking outward to engage the world and inward for reflection.

A circle needs connection - one cannot alone form it.

Built on cooperation and support, it grew as members helped each other flourish." In what ways can you see this vision reflected in the logo? You might have noticed the circle behind and the idea that you need lots of people to form a circle.

You can see the female figure in the middle based on traditional African art and the idea of the importance of looking at things from a woman's perspective rather than from a male perspective.

In forming the Circle, Oduyoye sought to challenge the dominance of traditional patriarchal theology.

These ideas were often seen as overly academic and disconnected from real-life experiences.

The Circle of Concerned African Women's Theologians provides a space for African women to share and develop their own religious perspectives.

And the important thing about The Circle is that it's grounded in real experience of being an African woman on the continent of Africa rather than kind of an academic debate about the natures of God in a very disconnected way.

It is much more about what it means to live and be a person in the world.

True or false.

Patriarchal theology is closely connected to lived experience and often inclusive of diverse perspectives.

Is that true or false? Think about what Oduyoye was trying to do with her circle of theologians.

You're right.

It's false, isn't it? But why? Because patriarchal theology is often seen as very academic and disconnected from the lived experience of real people.

African Women's Theology is a way of understanding Christianity that centres on the experiences, struggles, and perspectives of African women.

It's rooted in women's lives.

It challenges inequality through emphasising women's voices in theology.

It focuses on community and storytelling where faith is shared through lived experience.

And it reinterprets and reimagines Christianity through an African woman's lens.

Which of the following best describes African women's theology? A, a form of theology that addresses the experiences of both African men and women.

B, a theology that focuses only on the academic study of Christian doctrines.

C, a theology that excludes women's voices and focuses solely on traditional patriarchal views.

D, a way of understanding Christianity that centres on the experiences and perspectives of African women.

Pause the video and have a think.

Excellent, theologians.

It's D, isn't it? It's about understanding women and the particular experience and perspectives of African women.

So, let's look at a particular example of this.

How African women's theology might look at the person of Jesus.

So, in traditional Western theology, the most important thing about Jesus for many Christians is saving people from sin and promising eternal life.

But African Women's Theology focuses slightly differently.

It focuses on the fact that Jesus can liberate people from oppression and injustice, and they might point to stories in the gospels where Jesus was challenging society around him, particularly the role of women in society or the people who were on the margins of society.

Traditional Western theology might emphasise that Jesus is a king and ruler emphasising His divinity, His being part of God.

African Women's Theology rather focuses on the loving nature of Jesus, seeing Him rather like a mother, caring and protecting people, and especially standing with those on the margins of society.

Traditional Western theology emphasises personal faith and salvation.

The idea that the most important thing is the individual being saved.

Africans Women's Theology shifts it more to communities and the importance of healing those communities and also nature.

And finally, traditional Western theology is often rooted in doctrine and teaching, which means that it overlooks the way in which theology might look different in different cultures or different genders.

Whereas African Women's Theology is rooted in the real experience of being now and being a woman and living in a culture.

And so, it challenges social injustices like patriarchy.

The idea that men have most power.

Sam, Jun, Lucas, and Aisha are discussing African Women's Theology and its re-imagining of Jesus Christ.

Sam says, "Jesus isn't just about getting to heaven.

He brings freedom from injustice Now, especially for women." Jun says, "Jesus is caring like a mother, standing with people who are ignored or struggling." Lucas says, "Jesus heals community and the natural world now.

It's not just about freedom from sin and the afterlife." And Aisha says, "African women see Jesus through their own lives, not just through patriarchal perspectives." True or false? African Women's Theology emphasises personal faith and salvation while traditional Western theology focuses more on liberation from oppression and injustice.

Think about what we've just been hearing.

Is that true or false? Excellent, theologians.

It's false, isn't it? But why? Because actually in African Women's Theology, there's an emphasis on liberation and challenging injustice like patriarchal.

While traditional theology focuses more on personal faith and salvation.

So, what's the legacy of Mercy Oduyoye? Well, she changed the landscape of African theology.

She gave women the confidence to speak, lead, and challenge traditions that silenced them for generations.

In 2015, she was named the matriarch of African Women's Theology at Trinity Theological Seminary.

Her legacy lives on in the countless women she has empowered to take ownership of their faith and challenge oppression.

She's shown that Christianity does not have to be European.

It can be fully African, drawing upon and honouring indigenous religious traditions.

She gave African women a voice through The Circle.

She critiqued traditional patriarchal theology and the impact of colonialism.

She made theology relevant to African women's experiences.

And she said that Christianity could be fully African, not just European.

So, we have a final practise task now thinking about her legacy.

Using your learning about Mercy Oduyoye and African Women's Theology, explain how her life and legacy have shaped Christianity.

I'd like you to include these key terms. Can we use the terms African Women's theology? Akan, it's the culture in which she grew up with in Ghana.

Colonialism, the idea of Christianity and power coming from the west to Ghana.

And patriarchy, the idea that men hold most power in society.

Here's some sentence starters that might help you.

Through the work of The Circle, she.

What did she try and achieve? What was she trying to put forward? She challenged the impact of.

What did she see was a problem in society? She encouraged women to reinterpret and reimagining Christianity.

How did she do that? And she rejected a Christianity that was Western or European.

What was it about that form of Christianity that she rejected? Let's pause the video.

Let's put our theological thinking caps on and let's see if we can think about the legacy and amazing life of Mercy Oduyoye.

Okay, you might have said these ideas.

You might have said, "Through the work of The Circle, she created a unique space where women from all over Africa could engage in theology and conversation together whilst supporting each other." "She challenged the impact of colonialism and patriarchal culture from within African culture and Christianity, and particularly how it had led to the invisibility of women." You might have said, "She encouraged women to reinterpret and reimagine Christianity through developing African Women's Theology where women are encouraged to see things from their own perspective and experiences free from patriarchy." "She rejected a Christianity that was Western or European because she saw the importance of recognising African cultures like the Akan traditions in shaping a Christianity that was truly African." Fantastic if you managed to bring some of those ideas together.

I want to finish with this.

An old African proverb says, "A bird with one wing does not fly." One male praised the work of Mercy Oduyoye and The Circle in its vision to grow a second wing for theology in Africa.

In many ways, African Christianity had been shaped by the Western theology that had come to it, which meant that perhaps it was a bird that could not fly.

But the ideas of people like Mercy Oduyoye, bringing the perspectives of African women into it have shaped Christianity and changed it, allowing it to fly and become an African way of seeing the world not reliant on a European way.

What do you think about this? Do you think it's important to have different perspectives? If we listen to different groups of people and different voices, can that help us grow and flourish? You might want to talk to the person next to you or just reflect on that idea for yourself.

Let's summarise what we've been learning today.

Mercy Oduyoye was born in Ghana during a time when colonialism had shaped religion and culture.

Her worldview was shaped by her parents, Akan traditions, Christianity, and education, all helped her see the need to blend faith with African identity.

She pioneered African Women's Theology, challenging patriarchy, and making faith relevant to women's lives.

Her Christology reimagines Jesus as a liberator who calls for justice.

Her legacy empowers African women to lead in faith, reframe theology, and embrace Christianity as fully African.

Thank you for learning with me today.

It's been really interesting working with you and learning more about how the Global South has shaped and changed Christianity.

And I really look forward to seeing you in a lesson in the future.

Thank you very much.